Over the last dozen years, credit card fraud has become a more difficult business for fraudsters. Once far and away the greatest fraud problem for banks, credit card fraud has been brought under control and further progress is to be expected. Though overall losses have grown modestly in most developed economies, the rate of fraud loss compared to card use has dropped sharply due to improved security measures, especially systems that monitor account activity for out-of-character, suspicious behavior. Further progress is expected from the widespread introduction of electronic cards implementing secure personal identification numbers (PINs).
But, fraudsters have adapted with new forms of fraud, spreading losses across a wider span of accounts and types of transactions.